Where did the homeless come from?
As of 2013, San Francisco is home to an estimated 7,350 homeless. Seven thousand, three hundred, and fifty human beings. That is an incredible number.
According to the 2013 San Francisco Homeless Count & Survey, 17% of the homeless population stated that they came to San Francisco in search of employment while 14% stated that they were drawn by San Francisco’s social services. Quoted in the SFGate, Mayor Ed Lee cited 39% of San Francisco’s homeless “were homeless somewhere else before coming to San Francisco…point[ing] to the fact that the city attracts those seeking new opportunities — from the wealthiest tech titans to those most down on their luck.”
Though the magnet theory has yet to be empirically confirmed, through first, second, and third-person anecdotes, many of those close to the issue have come to believe in it. One staff member tells me of individuals coming from Nebraska and Nevada; one of the young men I interviewed stated that San Francisco’s welfare services (in addition to its reputation as a welcoming refuge for LGBT and an experienced sponsor of asylum seekers) was part of the reason he decided to move to San Francisco.
In my conversations with the men and women who call ECS (Episcopal Community Services) and Larkin Street Youth Services home, a recurring theme was the cost of living, specifically of shelter, in San Francisco (Manny tells me that “you have to be a complete idiot to go hungry in San Francisco”). As Frank puts it, “they keep raising the rent out of the middle income — where’s the middle income going to go?” As rental prices increase, housing subsidies become less and less valuable. At the same time, government funding for affordable housing is dwindling:
“At the committee hearing, Friedenbach, who has been working as a homeless advocate for 19 years, spelled out the myriad funding losses that have eviscerated affordable housing programs over time.
‘We’ve had really huge losses over the last 10 years in housing,’ she said. ‘We’ve lost construction for senior and disability housing. Section 8 [federal housing vouchers] has been seriously cut away at. We’ve lost federal funding for public housing. There were funding losses in redevelopment.’”
Who are the homeless?
I grew up believing that the homeless = drunks and drug addicts, that a dollar dropped into their coffee cup was another dollar toward a high. The numbers that I’ve uncovered in my research were shattering.
The majority of San Francisco’s homeless — 69% — do not have a substance abuse disorder. Twenty-nine percent identify as LGBT. I’ll tell the stories of two of them. A resounding 11% are veterans— you’ll hear the stories of three men, drafted during the Vietnam War. In comparison, veterans are 3.5% of San Francisco’s general population. How can we — as a city, as a country — look ourselves in the eye?
Though the San Francisco Homeless Count & Survey has diagnosed the primary causes of homelessness as eviction, in addition to an all-encompassing category of ‘mental illness, disability/physical injury, and addiction’ (63% of the homeless population), the journeys recounted to me were distinctive.
At times refusing to stay within the lines of the government’s pre-made census categories, these stories tell us more than demographics and data can. These stories are full of color. These stories are of finding yourself, of rescuing yourself, of choosing yourself.
